Daily Archives: December 18, 2010

Other scientists pointed out that cell division occurred naturally as tissue grew or rejuvenated within the body, and that the preliminary study did not prove any health effects.

Simon Cook, a biochemist at the Babraham Institute near Cambridge, said: “The reason people are intrigued is that this pathway is frequently activated in cancer.

“The research is certainly interesting. However, they saw a very transient activation of this pathway, which we know is not sufficient to promote cell division.

“In cancer you see a much stronger, persistent and sustained activation and even this is just one of many changes required for cancer development.”

Simon Arthur, from the University of Dundee, said: “The ERK1/2 pathway can be turned on by a huge variety of different things such as natural compounds produced by the body that regulate cell growth, and various forms of environmental and chemical stress.

“The research shows the effect on cells in culture in tightly-controlled laboratory conditions. In a living person there are lots of different processes occurring at the same time, so we do not know whether the signal from radio waves would produce a similar measureable effect.”

The most comprehensive assessment to date, the 10-year Interphone study published last month under the auspices of the World Health Organization, found contradictory results that even the study authors admitted were puzzling.
The multi-country study found that while the longest-term cell phone users had slightly elevated risks of brain cancers, lower-use people actually had fewer cancers, as though cell phones had inexplicably protected them from harm. New long-term studies are getting underway in Europe in an attempt to provide better, clearer answers.

“The science is not really settled,” said Naidenko. “What we are talking about is precautionary action at this moment.”
Cell phone makers must submit SAR levels for their products sold in the United States to the FCC, which regulates emissions of electronic devices. Phones cannot emit radiation in excess of 1.6 watts per kilogram averaged over a volume of one gram of tissue. This FCC threshold, adopted in 1996, is based on animal studies and human occupational exposure data, Naidenko said.

Not surprisingly, manufacturers tend not to include SARs on printed material that comes with phones, nor are SARs openly advertised. However, consumers can look up SAR levels on the FCC’s Web site.

But to do so, consumers need the phone’s FCC identification number. Because this number appears on a phone’s case often under a battery pack, it is not something that non-owners tend to have access to, Naidenko said.
By bringing such public, but buried information to light in one place on the EWG chart, Naidenko said that now “people don’t have to wonder about the radiation level of a phone before they buy it.”